Restaurants thrive by reaching out to the local community via social media
By Jeffrey Kingman

Recently I read a statistic that 75% of a restaurant’s customers come from the ten square block neighborhood the restaurant is in. Successful restaurateurs and chefs instinctively know the local core is their bread and butter. They work hard to develop and nurture this village constantly.

Do you know how to nurture this village and identify which of your customers are from your local neighborhood? How can you search out and invite locals who have never been to your business? What methods do you use to grow your village or local customer base?

Those who provide marketing services to today’s restaurants often hawk solutions geared at generating the broadest and most dispersed messaging, basically promoting the concept that shouting from the rooftop with a bullhorn will drive traffic to you. There are many bulk-text-messaging, bulk-email and “social media experts” pitching their tactics to operators.

While there is value to savvy deployment of these tactics, better results may be derived by networking to your immediate neighborhood. The old adage says the most effective method is all about “word of mouth.” Many operators participate in local events and non-profit activities to network themselves into the community.

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